The American Neighborhood, Technology & Your New Years Resolution
We as Americans have come a long way in the past hundred
or so years. We have the car, train and plane, the telephone,
the film and we have the television. Have we gone forward or
are we using these incredible tools of communication, travel &
expression against one another ? Imagine the delight, pleasure
and convenience these devices had once abled early Americans.
Look at how these incredibly important tools of the technological
age are being squandered, abused and wasted on ugly acts of
judgement, surveillance and communicating wrongs, perceived
wrongs and often child-like conversations of a negative nature.
It is as if Stanley Kubrik's vision of the 2001 A Space Odyssey
variety has been linked in reverse. Where the computer H.A.L.
has all the tools necessary to assist mankind and instead of doing
so, decides, in one way or another to attempt to control mankind.
But in this case, it is even worse than that. In this case, the tools
of technology have been invented and given freely, then we as a
species have reverted back to an earlier stage in our development,
utilizing the tools of invention, communication and travel only to
control, hurt or even to destroy one another. From the Jetson's to
The Flintstones, all because some people would use these tools to
express some form of hurt, oppress, judge, moralize or badger
their fellow man, their neighbor, someone they may disagree with.
Add to that those who are all too willing to throw their children
into the mix, to have their own children express some viewpoint
to a total stranger by acting out some fake scenario for the purpose
of influencing and or ' sending a message ' to a total stranger or to
a neighbor or group of people. Is this the American Neighborhood
of today ? Or is this a divisive game that will most likely backfire on
us ? What kind of world will this be when those same children, grow
up and realize what it is they were taught to do ? Most likely, they
will turn around and 'act out' some type of scenario on those who
taught them to do so in the first place. Creating an atmosphere of
indirect communication on a somewhat judgmental, critical & often
petty level. An embarrassing & futile game of false and misleading
commentary of some form or another. A bad metaphoric linguistic
nightmare that surly will set us all back by the decades. If you are
entirely unaware of what it is this writer is speaking to, congratulations.
You have, so far, avoided and some how steered clear of this game.
Unfortunately, you are not in the majority in this particular case.
Most reading this article, know exactly what it is we are talking about.
I wonder where this is all headed ? Are the private lives of Americans
that boring, that mundane, that eventless that the coming and going
of celebrities, media professionals or just some local character more
important than their own lives, their own direction, their own biography?
Each person writes their own biography on a daily basis, but spending
a majority of your day reacting to someone else's is no biography at all.
Its a petty, mindless and often way off the track game of bogus hearsay.
We are witnessing this game being played all over and I personally feel
a certain concern for those playing it. Usually and often, it is a group
activity, which puts it in the category of Fascism, Bullying, Them vs US,
type of thinking. An extreme attitude of the variety that thinks that,
" We are correct and the person we are ' playing ' is wrong ." That is
a very dangerous game indeed. This is America, in fact, this is The New
America, a place where we came to get away from tyranny, oppression
and group aspects of living. Oftentimes this game is being played by a
staff of professionals who are working for a larger business: a grocery
store, a group of drivers with a fleet of vehicles and of course corporations.
Sports, news, radio commentary, print media, headlines, billboards + more.
But here is the real problem. Once this game has been introduced,
others begin to play it, and it spirals into areas where such games can
only hurt. The American neighborhood has taken on this game at all levels
and especially in the middle and lower income brackets. A place that was
once safe from this type of dishonesty and manipulation has become
total victim, by becoming a total game field. We can only imagine that
utilizing communication devices to track the whereabouts of individuals
was thought by some to be a powerful move at first glance, but looking
again, we can easily see that this has damaged those who do the tracking
more than those who are being tracked. A losing game that hurts everyone,
but mostly it hurst the fabric of America. If your only way to influence is
through some form of phony, act out, conversation on the tele, prerecorded
radio spot or live commentary, than you are someone with no influence at all.
Some of what we are discussing here has been fueled by pseudo-psychological
double talk that is of the most elementary level. An almost embarrassing and
down right ignorant form of quasi - communicado that only the most infantile
individuals would either be influenced by or attempt to influence with as a tool.
Anyone with any sense would walk away from this type of group haranguing &
simply begin again to live their own lives. But walking away from a game like
this won't be easy. Once people who are a part of a group, people who, on their
own feel: little, diminished or worthless, may find it very difficult to leave. People who are addicted to the telephone, addicted to the car, addicted to the television and indeed addicted to playing the game on others, on unsuspecting individuals, these are fascists, these are bullies, these are a group of people who have no life of their own. For those reading this article who still do not know what we are talking about,I congratulate you a second time, I hope you never know what we are talking about. For those of you who, do, we wish you the best of luck in your recovery.
A Suggestion :
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION , STOP PAYING THE GAME AND YOU CANT LOSE.
A Reminder:
WE ARE AMERICANS, WE LIVE OUR LIVES, WE DON'T LIVE OTHERS LIVES.
